Ten Tales Of Konoha
by forresthero
Summary: Feturing your favorite characters, see the things you didn't ever see in the manga. One for Sakura, Tenten, Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Rock Lee, Neji, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba! Don't miss it! First is Sakura's tale!


This is my first story of the ten tales of konoha, enjoy!

Bleeding Blossoms

A pink-haired girl ran through the streets of Konoha. I knew this girl well. She was me six years ago. She was clutching a group of flowers, purple cosmos, as she maneuvered through the crowds. Finally, she had reached her destination.

"Ino-chan! Ino-chan!" she yelled out into the Yamanaka's flower shop. A blond girl, approximately my seven year old size, turned around "What is it Sakura-chan?" She ran over and shoved the flowers into her hands "The cosmos, there bleeding!" True enough, there were red stains all over the purple petals. The blond, Ino, grew a worried expression.

"I never heard of flowers bleeding." She said after examining them.

"Your mom's a florist, right? That's a flower doctor, right?" Younger-me franticly exclaimed. Ino nodded and ran up to her mother, who was working the cash register. "Mommy, Mommy! These cosmos's are bleeding!" She yelled, pulling on her mother's apron. The tall woman looked down at the two worried girls. She took the flowers from Ino and examined them. She looked back at them with a smile "It's only red paint, sillies."

"If it only it was like that now. If it only it was red paint." Ino sighed, looking over at the unconscious Sakura. On there way back from the mission in a nearby town, there team of four, Sakura, herself, Shikamaru, and Hinata, had been attacked by bandits. Sakura had taken some serious damage when she had stopped to treat Ino's arm. They had managed to make it back before she was dead, but not fast enough to make sure she would live. All Ino could think was "This is all my fault." She looked over and noticed that the cherry blossom buds she had put in the vase were already wilting. "I better get some new ones." She told herself, trying to get her mind of the current problem. As she left the building she saw Shikamaru enter.

I saw myself again, only this time I was nine. My hair had started to grow out longer. It was one week before I cut my friendship off with Ino-pig. We were walking to school together, talking about the project we were doing today in Iruka-sensei's class. He had told us we got to work with partners. "I hope we get to be partners." I told her. "I hope so too!" She grinned back.

Unfortunately, we weren't. Ino got paired up with Kiba, while I got paired up with Shikamaru, the laziest kid in our class. All he ever did was sleep, and he always failed his tests. Iruka-sensei was crazy to pair me up with him, I thought. I was dead wrong. We were to go to the Konoha Library and research information on a certain ninja (for us it was the third hokage), or collect information any other way, and present information on them by tomorrow. "Listen to me, Shikamaru. I want to keep up my excellent grades reputation, so you better pull your end of the project!" He rubbed the back of his neck "Fine. Fine. Troublesome women."

I thrust a book into his hands "Read this." He looked at the cover "The Hokage's? What kind of book title is that?" He yawned. I looked in other books around the library, while he flipped through the thin book. When I came back with no prevail of finding info, he gave me troubled look "This only has information on what the hokage's do and how the name and stuff happened." He muttered. I sighed, because I had had the same luck. I put my head down on the table, kissing my reputation goodbye. "Let's just go directly to the source then." He input the first real thing he had done to help this whole time.

"A project for Iruka's class, huh? Come on in and you can interview me." The third said. The two of us came in, both carrying notebooks and pencils, ready to write. After a series of questions, we were down to our last one. "Who's in your family, Hokage-sama?" I squeaked, still nervous, he was the hokage after all. "I don't think you could write them all on that paper, so I'll just help you abbreviate. Every citizen, merchant, shinobi, to student alike, of Konoha, are included in my family." He said with a big smile.

"I know we aren't friends…" Shikamaru said, twiddling with his finger "but it's still my fault you got hurt like this, so I had to make sure you were ok." He was sitting on the seat Ino had been sitting minutes before. "As the team's leader, I'm supposed to make sure everyone comes back okay." He said, with a weird feeling in his throat. When he went on the Sasuke retrieval mission, he hadn't gotten this feeling. Even though he had been deeply worried about Neji and his best friend, Chouji, this was a totally different thing. He had been the one who had told to heal Ino's arm when she got the chance. He pulled a flower out of his pocket he had picked outside the hospital. It was a cherry blossom in full bloom. He gave her one last hopeful stare as he exited.

"Ni-nice to see you again, Sakura-chan." Hinata said bowing her head to me, stuttering as usual. I bowed my 9-year old head. Both of us were dressed up in elegant kimonos. My father and mother had to talk to Hinata's father about something, so they dragged me along to this formal affair. "Would you like to come and sit with us or play with Hinata?" My mother asked. I looked at her as if she was crazy and asked Hinata where her room was. "Her-here it is, Sakura-chan." I looked around the huge room before me. There was training supplies piled around the room. "I don't really have many fun things to do here, I'm sorry." She apologized. I went into her closet to dig through it, obviously not caring that I was in another's house. I pulled out a box with dress up clothes leaking out the sides. "Oh, you always seem so grown up at school, I didn't want you to have to play with those." She apologized again. "No problem, Hinata. I love dressing up, and there are so many clothes to choose from. Do you mind if I pick out an outfit for you to wear?" I grinned. "Ca-can I pick one out for you Sakura-chan?" She asked. I nodded "But of course."

"Mom, Dad, close you eye's please!" I told them from the hall. "You to father, please." Hinata input. After a few seconds, we both entered the room "You can open them now." My parents laughed, while Hinata's father formed a small smile. I wore a big pink kimono with blue flowers all over it and an orange obi. My hair had flower clips holding it up in all different directions. I had four neon necklaces on. Hinata adorned a purple kimono with orange flowers all over it, with a tan obi. Her hair was in two pony tails, and she was wearing a lot of bracelets. "Aren't we pretty?" I giggled.

"Maybe after that night, we didn't really talk, but I was happy that maybe I made someone like a friend." Hinata whispered, in the same seat Shikamaru and Ino had just been in. "Maybe it seems foolish, but I always liked that feeling. I wanted to make sure you were ok, Sakura-chan." She griped her legs, feeling as if it was all her fault she was like that. "If I would have helped her with some of the medicine I brought, she wouldn't be here." She muttered to herself. She placed the blooming cherry blossom into the vase near her bedside, which already contained one. She walked out, trying to hold back her tears.

"So if you're a cosmos, Ino… then I guess I'm like purple trousers" I said, looking down at the ground. "What are you talking about?!" Ino yelled at me "I don't think you're even a full-fledged flower yet… You're still a bud!" I perked up "I guess so" I giggled it off.

We went back to flower picking. "Ino?" I asked breaking the silence

"Yeah?" She answered.

"Why-why did…you…give me this ribbon?" I asked, referring to the red ribbon on my head.

She smirked "Because" she paused "I thought it was a shame…to see a like you dying on the vine." I looked up surprised. She continued "What's the point of being a flower if you're never going to bloom? You might end up…being even prettier than a cosmos!" She said with a smile. I was crying. "Ino, thank you…" I said in my head.

Ino returned to Sakura's room, and took her cherry blossom flower and placed it in the vase. She saw the other two flowers and looked over to Sakura, who had begun to stir. She trotted out of the room and took one last look before leaving "Sakura, Last year, I wasn't sure if you had totally bloomed. But you have definitely bloomed into a beautiful flower."


End file.
